diff --git a/sqlite_utils/cli.py b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
index 7b4098d..7c09578 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/cli.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import json
 import sys
 import csv as csv_std
 import tabulate
-import sqlite3
+from .utils import sqlite3
 
 
 def output_options(fn):
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/db.py b/sqlite_utils/db.py
index d40951e..e03ef63 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/db.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/db.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import sqlite3
+from .utils import sqlite3
 from collections import namedtuple
 import datetime
 import hashlib
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/utils.py b/sqlite_utils/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40b1819
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sqlite_utils/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+try:
+    import pysqlite3 as sqlite3
+except ImportError:
+    import sqlite3
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 322d627..c7b4077 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from sqlite_utils import Database
-import sqlite3
+from sqlite_utils.utils import sqlite3
 import pytest
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 2fb1d04..ddb936b 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from click.testing import CliRunner
 import json
 import os
 import pytest
-import sqlite3
+from sqlite_utils.utils import sqlite3
 
 from .utils import collapse_whitespace
 
diff --git a/tests/test_create.py b/tests/test_create.py
index 91ad169..b6519c8 100644
--- a/tests/test_create.py
+++ b/tests/test_create.py
@@ -549,7 +549,7 @@ def test_create_index_if_not_exists(fresh_db):
     assert [] == dogs.indexes
     dogs.create_index(["name"])
     assert 1 == len(dogs.indexes)
-    with pytest.raises(sqlite3.OperationalError):
+    with pytest.raises(Exception, match="index idx_dogs_name already exists"):
         dogs.create_index(["name"])
     dogs.create_index(["name"], if_not_exists=True)
 
@@ -593,7 +593,7 @@ def test_insert_thousands_ignores_extra_columns_after_first_100(fresh_db):
 def test_insert_ignore(fresh_db):
     fresh_db["test"].insert({"id": 1, "bar": 2}, pk="id")
     # Should raise an error if we try this again
-    with pytest.raises(sqlite3.IntegrityError):
+    with pytest.raises(Exception, match="UNIQUE constraint failed"):
         fresh_db["test"].insert({"id": 1, "bar": 2}, pk="id")
     # Using ignore=True should cause our insert to be silently ignored
     fresh_db["test"].insert({"id": 1, "bar": 3}, pk="id", ignore=True)